Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Jose Pirela

AL East Notes: Pirela, Travis, Paredes, Red Sox

By | at

The Yankees are set to bring up second base prospect Jose Pirela, Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports on Twitter. It remains to be seen how the playing time will be sorted in the middle infield, but the club has received scant production to date at both second base (Stephen Drew and Gregorio Petit) and shortstop (Didi Gregorius). With the Yankees otherwise looking good atop the AL East, it is fair to wonder whether Pirela and/or Rob Refsnyder will get extended early looks to help inform the club’s decisionmaking over the summer.

Here’s more from the competitive AL East:

  • Meanwhile, things are headed in quite a different direction at the keystone for the Blue Jays, who have received stunning production from offseason acquisition Devon Travis. As Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca explains, while Travis’s incredible start is obviously not sustainable, he has exhibited a series of skills — hitting the ball long and hard, and showing quality strike zone control — that bode well for his future. While Toronto obviously hoped he could become a long-term answer when it dealt for him, the club now has good reason to believe that he will be installed at second for years to come.
  • Another infielder off to a surprisingly hot start is Jimmy Paredes of the Orioles. As Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun writes, the 26-year-old has traveled a long road through five organizations to get to this point. Still a work in progress in the field, Paredes has shown real promise at the plate this year. With Jonathan Schoop still working back from injury and Manny Machado having missed significant time in each of the last two seasons, Paredes could be an important piece for Baltimore if the team hopes to stay in the playoff hunt.
  • Things have gotten bad in a hurry for the Red Sox, writes Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. Bradford opines that losing Hanley Ramirez for any significant stretch would be a huge blow for Boston; while his injury does not appear to be as serious as it looked, any loss of production could be problematic in a tough division. Of course, the club has plenty of options in the outfield, and the bigger concern remains a rotation that has struggled badly. Though it is reasonable to hope that the results will begin to better match the underlying peripherals, Bradford says that the team does not have any obviously promising internal candidates to add quality innings in the near term.

AL Notes: Soria, Pirela, Jimenez

By | at

In Joakim Soria, the Tigers have found the top-quality closer they’ve lacked in the past several seasons, James Schmehl of MLive.com writes. Soria has been successful in all ten of his save chances this season while allowing just two runs in 11 2/3 innings. Over the past several years, the Tigers have leaned on the often unreliable Jose Valverde and Joe Nathan, with a strong partial-season performance from Joaquin Benoit in 2013 providing a few months of respite. The Tigers bullpen was a problem last year, and Schmehl notes that much of it is still shaky. But for now, their closer problem seems to be solved. Here’s more from the American League.

  • Jose Pirela’s terrific hitting on a rehab assignment for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this weekend has the Yankees considering promoting him to the big leagues, Chad Jennings of the Journal News writes. Pirela, who’s returning from a concussion suffered in Spring Training, has had three or more hits in three straight games. Jennings notes that Gregorio Petit currently serves as the Yankees’ righty bench infielder, but that Pirela could provide more offense.
  • Infielder Luis Jimenez, who the Red Sox claimed from the Brewers this weekend, allows Boston to use their other bench players more flexibly, manager John Farrell says (via Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald). “Righthanded utility guy, we like the defense, particularly at third, if that comes into play,” says Farrell. “It gives us some more flexibility with Brock (Holt) and Daniel Nava, and hopefully a chance to get back to 13 position players.” Jimenez rates as a plus defensive third baseman and could prove to be a valuable backup for Pablo Sandoval. Jimenez can also play elsewhere in the infield.

Yankees Notes: Luxury Tax, Pirela, A-Rod

By | at

MLB’s luxury tax has not kept pace with rising MLB revenues, Nathaniel Grow of FanGraphs explains. The luxury tax threshold grew from $117MM in 2003 to $178MM in 2011, but held steady there for three years before a modest increase to $189MM in 2014, where it remains today. The threshold was once set at 90 percent of the average team’s revenue, but now it’s only 63 percent. That threshold has clearly disincentivized heavy spending for several teams. For example, the Yankees’ payroll has stayed roughly the same since 2005 (hovering at around $210MM-$220MM), even as their revenues have skyrocketed. The luxury tax appears, then, to be limiting player salaries, which means the MLBPA could try to change the system in the next round of CBA negotiations, perhaps aiming to have the luxury-tax threshold tied specifically to each year’s overall league revenues. Here’s more from New York.

  • The Yankees are closely watching infielder Jose Pirela as he continues his rehab assignment at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com writes. Pirela suffered a concussion in Spring Training. “I think he is doing better,” says Yankees manager Joe Girardi. “It’s something that we have discussed about what we might possibly do with him or not do with him, but obviously I think at-bats are important. He was out a month.” Last offseason, Pirela appeared likely to compete with Rob Refsnyder for the Yankees’ second base job, although those plans changed when the team signed Stephen Drew. The 25-year-old Pirela hit a solid .305/.351/.441 at Scranton last season before making a good impression by going 8-for-24 in his first cup of coffee in the big leagues.
  • The Yankees ought to pay Alex Rodriguez his $6MM bonus for tying Willie Mays’ career home run mark, Steve Wulf of ESPN The Magazine writes. The team has kept its championship banner from 2009, a year when Rodriguez posted a .933 OPS in the regular season and hit six postseason home runs while taking PEDs. To deny A-Rod his bonus because of PED use would therefore be hypocritical, Wulf argues.
  • The battle between the Yankees and A-Rod will be an argument about whether Rodriguez’s milestone 660th home run is about him or about the number itself, writes ESPN’s Jayson Stark. The Yankees’ position will be that the home run isn’t marketable because of A-Rod’s troubling legacy, while Rodriguez’s camp will say that the meaning of the number 660 (and the numbers 714 and 755) in baseball history and in American sports culture more broadly are bigger than A-Rod himself.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrows scroll to top